A BID for £1.7m of investment into the Rede Valley has been submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

It is hoped that money from the fund will help support a five-year £2.8m programme to conserve and enhance the natural environment and heritage of the Rede Valley, stretching from Carter Bar down to Redesmouth.

The proposed projects include community archaeology projects across the valley, including one which will work with the Battlefields Trust to explore the history and location of the Battle of Otterburn – fought in 1388 between the Scots and the English by moonlight.

The findings from this project will be used to significantly improve interpretation at the Percy Cross picnic site in Otterburn, helping to tell the story of the battle and what the landscape might have looked like in medieval times.

There are also plans to restore the Roman Fort at High Rochester and the ironworks in Ridsdale, alongside a programme of improved signage and interpretation to help people explore the area’s history.

Lydia Speakman, the project manager responsible for co-ordinating the Revitalising Redesdale bid, said: “In developing the bid, the key partners in the Revitalising Redesdale Landscape Partnership are the people who live, work and visit in Redesdale.

“The four Redesdale parish councils have been very involved, and we have tried to make sure that we have kept people living in the valley informed of what is being developed, so that they have been able to shape and influence the list of projects before they were submitted to the Lottery.”